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66th Congress, 
1st Session. 


HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. 


-EPORT 

No. 470. 


SIX MONTHS’ PAY TO DEPENDENTS OF DECEASED ARMY 
\ MEN. 

i 


November 15, 1919.—Commkted to the Committee of the Whole House on the state 
of the Union*and ordered to be printed. 


II. S. 




Mr. Miller, from the^Comimittee on Military Affairs, submitted the 

following 

REPORT. 

[To accompany S. 2497.] 


The Committee on Military Affairs, to whom was referred the bill 
(S. 2497) to provide for the payment of six months’ pay to the 
widow, children, or other designated dependent relative of any offi¬ 
cer or enlisted man of the Regular Army whose death results from 
wounds or disease not the result of his own misconduct, having con¬ 
sidered the same, report thereon with a recommendation that it do 
pass, with the following amendments: 

In line 3, page 1, after the word “that,” insert the words “from 
and after October 6, 1917.” 

In line 7, page 1, strike out the words “from and after October 6, 

1917.” 

Strike out all of section 3. 

This legislation was recommended bv the War Department in the 
following letters: 

War Department, 
Washington, July 29, 1919. 

To the Chairman Committee on Military Affairs, 

House of Representatives. 

Sir: In compliance with request, under date of July 24, 1919, of the clerk of your 
committee, I transmit herewith a copy of a letter sent with II. R. 6505 when that bill 
was transmitted in its original form. 

Respectfully, 

_ W. G. Haan, 

Major General, General Staff, Director, W. P. /)., A. C. of S. 


War Department, 
Washington, January —, 1918. 
To the Chairman Committees on Military Affairs, 

House of Representatives. 

Sir: My attention has been called to the fact that the act of October 6, 1917, author¬ 
izing the creation of a Bureau of War Risk Insurance, which is now in effect, in so far 
as it benefits the families of deceased officers and soldiers, has not taken the place of 
the gratuity heretofore provided by act of Congress. 

















SIX MONTHS * PAY TO DEPENDENTS OF DECEASED ARMY MEN. 


The theory underlying the gratuity and pension statutes, as they have been on the 
books since 1908, is that the so-called six months’ gratuity would provide a fund im¬ 
mediately available to the family upon the decease of the officer or enlisted man. so 
as to take care of the extraordinary expenses of the period of emergency and readjust¬ 
ment caused by the taking off of the main support of the family, and that the pension 
allowed to dependents would assist in their support during the period of dependency. 
These benefits were rightly regarded as part of the remuneration for service in the 
Army, where the pay is, and always has been, small as compared with the wages and 
salaries of civilians in positions of equal importance. 

The inadequacy of the foregoing plan in the present emergency caused the enact¬ 
ment of the amendment of October 6, 1917, to the act of September 2,1914, authorizing 
the creation of a Bureau of War Risk Insurance. Its main object was to provide pro¬ 
tection against disability and death of the men called ir»>o the service for the period 
of the war only. This is shown particularly by the provisions as to family allowances, 
which cease with the present war emergency. Article III, which deals with com¬ 
pensation for disability or death, is a great improvement over former pension legisla¬ 
tion. Article IV, which authorizes the Government} to write insurance upon the 
lives of officers and enlisted men, taken in conjunction with Article III, enables a 
member of the Army to make provision for an incoihe for his dependents which will 
enable them to maintain a self-respecting standard of living, after they have once 
made the necessary readjustment. But the act nowhere makes any provision to 
cover this emergency period. Civilians usually take care of it by insurance payable 
in a lump sum upon death. The members of the Regular Army have not generally 
been able to make such provision, and, since 1908, have, in many cases, thought it 
unnecessary because of the gratuity paid by the Government. At present with the 
additional premiums required for war risks, the procuring of such insurance is prac¬ 
tically out of the question for the lower grades. Therefore, one of the unforeseen 
consequences of the act is to deprive members of the Regular Army of a most im¬ 
portant privilege, of great value to their families. It is, in effect, a reduction of their 
emoluments at a time when such reduction is most disastrous. Because of the ne¬ 
cessity for making adequate provision for nonprofessional soldiers, whose military 
service is temporary only, the professional men of arms ought not to be deprived of 
any of the allowances which have been heretofore given them and which they may 
have justly come to regard as their right in lieu of higher pay. 

The repealing of the gratuity provision causes special hardship to the families of 
officers, for it amounts to the cancellation of a paid-up life insurance policy ranging in 
value from $900 to $5,000. And since the compensation granted by Article III is in 
many instances less than the pension would have been under the pension laws, the 
officer’s family is left in worse position than before the passage of the act. the very 
object of which was to improve the position. 

The War Department’s views on this proposed and desirable legislation, together 
with a draft of the proposed bill, are therefore furnished for the information of the 
chairman on Military Affairs, House of Representatives, and favorable action is 
recommended. 

Respectfully, 

Newton D. Baker, 

Secretary of War. 

The Senate amended the bill by the addition of section 3, which 
reads as follows: 


That the sum received hereunder shall be deducted from any amount that may be 
or may become due and payable to any such widow, child, children, or dependent 
relative of such officer or enlisted man under the act entitled “An act to amend an act 
entitled ‘An act to authorize the establishment of a Bureau of War Risk Insurance in 
the Treasury Department,’ approved September 2, 1914, and for other purposes,” 
approved October 6, 1917, or any act or acts amendatory thereof. 

Subsequently the Secretary of War addressed a letter to the 
chairman of the Committee on Military Affairs, House of Repre¬ 
sentatives, explaining the effect of the inclusion of that section in the 
legislation. The letter is as follows: 

September 30, 1919. 

To the Chairman Committee on Military Affairs, 

House of Representatives. 

Sir: I beg to bring to your attention a serious defect which, it appears to me, is 
included in S. 2497, “A bill to provide for the payment of six months’ pay to the 


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six months' pay to dependents oe deceased army men. 

widow, children, or other designated dependent relative of any officer or enlisted man 

^_of the Regular Army wjhose death results from wounds or disease, not the result of his 

VJ ' own misconduct,” which has recently passed the Senate. 

This legislation was requested by the War Department in the identical form as that 
provided in the first twc ( sections of the above bill, with the exception of the provision 
•covering those on the retired list when on active duty, to which provision the War 
Department can see no objection. 

Section 3 of the abov^ bill was not, however, covered in the War Department’s 
recommendation, and it is my opinion that should this section be enacted into law the 
effect upon the Army as a whole will be most detrimental, since such provision nulli¬ 
fies in a large measure, th-j advantages to the members of the Regular service of con¬ 
tinuing the war risk insurance. This for the reason that the section as written confers 
a gratuity, amounting to six months’ pay, upon those in the service who do not con¬ 
tinue their war-risk insurance, while in the case of those who do, the amount received 
is in the nature of an immediate payment of part of the insurance for which they have 
paid a premium sufficiently large to secure the Government against possible loss in the 
transaction. The result of such a discrimination in favor of those who do not continue 
the insurance can be easily foreseen and would be most unfortunate. I hope when 
this legislation is referred to your [committee, you will lend your influence to elimi¬ 
nating section 3 referred to above.] 

Respectfully, * 

m Newton D. Baker, 

Secretary of War. 

Your committee feel that section 3, if permitted to pass as part of 
the legislation, would probably result in such a condition as is pointed 
out in the Secretary’s letter. 

Your committee also recommends that H. R. 6505 he laid upon the 
table. 


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